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US Spies Expected Airline Bombs–And Got The Paris Attacks Instead
Everyone worried that al Qaeda’s deadliest affiliate would try to take down a plane. Then came the slaughter at Charlie Hebdo.
For more than five years, U.S. intelligence agencies, counterterrorism operators, and the military have been intensely focused on trying to stop al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemen branch of the global terrorist network, from sneaking hard-to-detect bombs onto airplanes and slaughtering hundreds of people.

All this, despite a slick AQAP magazine that called specifically for shooters—and for Charlie Hebdo to be put in the crosshairs.

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One prominent terrorism analyst said there’s a “reflexive tendency” among many in the intelligence community and political elite to downplay Al Qaeda’s resiliency and its reach.

“There’s this immediate urge to say something isn’t Al Qaeda when there’s evidence that it is,” said Thomas Joscelyn, the editor of the influential Long War Journal, which chronicles the workings of AQAP and U.S. drone strikes against the group. Joscelyn pointed out, for example, that President Obama initially described Abdulmutallab, the Christmas Day bomber, as an “isolated extremist” even though he had already told authorities that he was sent by al Qaeda in Yemen.

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“Al-Qaeda remains fixated on commercial air attacks. In the past, al-Qaeda operatives have moved easily in and out of Malaysia,” Fred Burton, VP of Intelligence at the U.S.-based geopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor and former State Department counterterrorism agent, told Al Arabiya News.

“As an investigator, one looks for modus operandi. This theory needs to be ruled-in or out. Washington will be looking into this as a viable concern,” Burton added.

Malaysian Islamist ‘plot’

Last month, an alleged plot by Malaysian Islamists to hijack a passenger jet, in a similar style to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, was linked to the disappearance of Flight MH370, Britain’sTelegraph reported.

The connection to the Malaysia Airlines flight, which went missing on March 8, was being investigated following claims from an al-Qaeda “supergrass” who recently spoke of a Malaysian plot in a New York court.

Saajid Badat, a British-born Muslim from Gloucester, had said that four to five Malaysian men had been planning to take control of a plane, using a bomb hidden in a shoe to blow open the cockpit door, according to the newspaper.

But in one of the most shocking revelations, Badat said that he had met the Malaysian jihadists in Afghanistan, given them a shoe bomb to use to take control of an aircraft, and that one of them was a pilot.

Badat had been giving evidence at the trial in New York of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law. He told the court via video- ink that he believed the Malaysians, including the pilot, were “ready to perform an act.”

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Members of a violent cell of al Qaeda-linked terrorists are being questioned in connection with the disappearance of Flight MH370, according to several British press reports.

International law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Britain’s MI6, asked Malaysian authorities to conduct intense interrogations of the 11 militants, who range in age from 22 to 55 and include students, business professionals and a young widow, the Mail newspaper said.
They were all arrested in Malaysia last week.

An officer with the Counter Terrorism Division of Malaysia’s Special Branch said the arrests have increased concern that terrorists may have taken control of the plane.

“The possibility that the plane was diverted by militants is still high on the list,’’ the officer said.

“International investigators have asked for a comprehensive report on this new terror group.’’

The official revealed that the suspects admitted planning “sustained terror campaigns in Malaysia,’’ but insisted their group had nothing to do with the plane.

The Beijing-bound plane vanished two months ago with 239 people aboard.

A massive hunt for the aircraft, which is believed to have gone down in the Indian Ocean, has turned up no wreckage.

According to the Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar all nine detained were believed to be involved in international terrorism syndicate. However he did not provide further details on the group.

In a press statement, the IGP said that all those arrested were between 22 and 55 years old. He added that some of the detained individuals had conducted secret meetings and discussions at several places in Malaysia.

“We believe that these nine people are connected to international terrorism syndicate. They were all detained at two separate locations in Kedah and Selangor,”

“Some of them have already been in secret discussions and they have been talking about their ideologies and how to spread their movement in this country,” Khalid said.

The last time a Malaysian was arrested and charged under the SOSMA was former army captain Yazid Sufaat who was detained by police in February 2013.

The ex-biochemist student was charged with inciting terrorist act that could have involved violence in Syria.

Yazid had earlier been jailed for seven years for allegedly aiding two of the perpetrators of the Sept 11 attacks in the United States.

He said he met with another senior al-Qaida figure, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind behind the 9/11 US attacks, who provided him with advice on how to plan the bombing of an aircraft.

Mohammed, currently at Guantánamo awaiting trial, had provided him and Reid with instructions on how to avoid detection in their plan to blow up a US aircraft, being careful to avoid internet timetables of flights, and instead use hard copies and to use swear words, in order to divert attention away from themselves as devout Muslims, he said….

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“My father knew I had travelled to Afghanistan. My father sat me down and he said “I’ve heard about sleepers. If I find out you are one of those sleepers I will kill you.”

He told the court that, after initially declining to co-operate with British authorities, he decided to do so in 2007, as “revenge on those who were more senior to me in promoting” a view of violent jihad motivated by facist ideology.”

While in Afghanistan, he said, he met with senior al Qaeda figures about the shoe bomb plot, including bin Laden; Khalid Sheikh Mohammed; Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s current leader; and al Qaeda’s former military chief, Mohammed Atef.

Two Indonesian nationals who were imprisoned in Manila for suspected terrorist activities had allegedly brought in other Indonesian nationals to undergo training at the former camp of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the southern Philippines two years ago, a source said.

Agus Dwirkana and Fathur Al Ghozi have brought several Indonesian nationals to undergo training on explosives at the Camp Abubakar when it was still held by the MILF, said the source who requested anonymity.

The MILF members did not give the training since they also underwent training on bomb-making, the source said. He did not say if there were other foreigners during the training period.

This was the reason why Dwirkana, one of three Indonesian nationals who was arrested for carrying components of explosives, at the international airport on March 14, was not released despite Indonesian Prime Minister Megawatti Sukarnoputri’s request to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said the source.

Last week, Dwirkana was sentenced up to 17 years in prison for illegal possession of firearms.
Al Ghozi was arrested in Manila’s Quiapo district on January 15.

During interrogation, he admitted that he bought Anzomez Primer, a high explosive initiator, from two retailers in Cebu, central Philippines.

He kept them for a while in a rented house in General Santos, southern Philippines, before sending them to an Asean country, which was not identified. Police seized the explosives on January 17.

Last month, Al Ghozi was s sentenced to 17 years of imprisonment. Authorities claimed that Dwirkana is a member of Hizbut Tahir, a political movement. It has links with the extremist group Rabitual Mujahidin and the Al Qaida.

Authorities alleged that Dwirkana and Al Ghozi are members of the Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian counterpart of the Al Qaida. Jemaah Islamiyah allegedly planned to attack Western targets in Singapore earlier this year.

Authorities claimed that Dwirkana and Al Ghozi were behind the bombings that killed 22 people at the elevated train system in Manila on December 30, 2002.

Dwirkana was behind the bombing of the residence of Philippine Ambassador Leonides Caday in Jakarta in August 2000, authorities added.

The Philippine government has not yet filed charges against them for having undergone training session at Camp Abubakar. The Philippines does not have anti-terrorism law, the reason why authorities have filed charges only of illegal possession of firearms and explosives on suspected terrorists.

The government and the MILF are holding peace talks in Malaysia, with the help of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).

“Dwirkana is found guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Accordingly, he is sentenced to suffer a penalty of 10 years as minimum to 17 years as maximum and to pay a fine of 50,000 pesos,” Gingyon concluded in his 35-page decision.

Justice Undersecretary Manuel Teehankee said the government was “very pleased with this development.”

Another justice official, Jose Calida, said intelligence reports had additionally linked Dwirkana to Majlis Mujahedin Indonesian, a group said to be even closer to al-Qaida than Jemaah Islamiyah.

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Wikipedia, citing a 2002 TIME article, has Sufaat buying the four tones of ammonium nitrat for JI/MILF bomb-maker Father Rahman al-Ghozi.

Yazid Sufaat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Malaysian Yazid Sufaat (or Yazud bin Sufaat or Yazid Shufaat) was a member of the Islamist terrorist organisation Jemaah Islamiyah from shortly after its foundation in 1993 until his arrest by Malaysian authorities on 9 December 2001.[1]

Sufaat was born in Johor, Malaysia on 20 January 1964. His expired Malaysian passport was number A10472263. As of April 2007 he is being held in the Kamuting prison under Malaysia’s Internal Security Act.[1] He was released with no advanced notification by the Malaysian Government on 10 December 2008 with the Home Minister claiming that he was “sufficiently reformed”.

In 1987 Sufaat graduated from the California State University, Sacramento with a degree in biochemistry.[2] He then served in the Malaysian army as a medical technician, reaching the rank of Captain.[1] Sufaat is now believed to be one of al-Qaeda’s mainanthrax researchers.[2][3][4][5] In 1993 Sufaat set up a pathology laboratory called Green Laboratory Medicine, at which he subsequently tried to weaponise anthrax on behalf of al-Qaeda.[1] From 5 to 8 January 2000, a major meeting of al-Qaeda and JI personnel was held in Kuala Lumpur[6] (see 2000 Kuala Lumpur al-Qaeda Summit); four of those who attended stayed with Sufaat at his home.[7] He is also suspected of providing employment documents to Zacarias Moussaoui, and providing lodging for two of the 11 September hijackers, namely Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.[7]

From the 9/11 Commission report:[7]

The al Qaeda-JI partnership yielded a number of proposals that would marry al Qaeda’s financial and technical strengths with JI’s access to materials and local operatives. Here, Hambali played the critical role of coordinator, as he distributed al Qaeda funds earmarked for joint operations. In one especially notable example, Atef turned to Hambali when al Qaeda needed a scientist to take over its biological weapons program. Hambali obliged by introducing a U.S.-educated JI member, Yazid Sufaat, to Ayman al Zawahiri in Kandahar. In 2001, Sufaat would spend several months attempting to cultivate anthrax for al Qaeda in a laboratory he helped set up near the Kandahar airport.

Sufaat, through his company Green Laboratory Medicine, acquired four tonnes of ammonium nitrate for JI/MILF bomb-maker Fathur Rahman al-Ghozi.[8] The intended bombing spree in Singapore (see Singapore embassies attack plot) was averted by the arrests in Singapore in December 2001 and the capture of al-Ghozi the following month in the Philippines.

Sufaat was still in Afghanistan at the time of the 9/11 attacks, whence he fled via Pakistan to Malaysia,[5] where he was soon picked up. He is wanted in the United States in connection with 9/11.[5]
Under the name Yazud bin Sufaat, his assets were frozen on 5 September 2003 by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.[9] Four days later, under the name Yazid Sufaat, he was embargoed by the United Nations Security Council Committee 1267 as an affiliate of al-Qaeda and the Taliban.[10]

Malaysia was reported to have freed Sufaat in December 2008.[11] In 2013, Sufaat was detained under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act for incitement of terrorist acts. [12]